. >> reporter: staff sergeant salvatore giunta was waiting at his army post in italy with his wife, jennifer, when the call came from washington. >> my heart started racing pretty fast at that time, and then when he said president barack obama, it just started really pounding. >> reporter: he was just 22 years old at the time, during this battle, which abc news cameras captured. it was a fight so intense, an ambush so sudden, that soldiers were lying wounded within seconds. among them, giunta's closest friend, sergeant josh brennan, shot multiple times and cut off from the other soldiers. >> to tell the story about that day hurts me. >> reporter: staff sergeant brett perry back in afghanistan for a second tour was with giunta on that frigid mountain during the battle. >> i can't even begin to describe how intense it was. the most intense whizzes i've ever heard from bullets just going right over us. >> reporter: with two taliban fighters now dragging his friend josh brennan away giunta charged right into the ambush, killing one of the taliban fighters and chasing the other away. giunta pulle